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So You’ve Never Done A Jigsaw Puzzle. Don’t Worry, I’ve Got You Covered!
In this article I’ll give you the steps to follow so you’ll know how to do jigsaw puzzles with straight edges.
Starting Your Puzzle
The first thing to think about is where you’ll be doing your jigsaw puzzle. You’ll want a place with plenty of light and a flat surface that is at least large enough for your finished puzzle; 1000 piece puzzles are approximately 26″ x 19″.
Puzzle Zone Set Up
You’ll want to get your puzzle space set up with good lighting. I do my puzzles in my kitchen by a set of windows but I also have an overhead light. Darker puzzles sometimes require more direct lighting such as The Vampire’s Castle puzzle by Ravensburger.
Sorting Your Puzzle Pieces
Crack open that box! It’s time to sort your pieces! Which method will you choose? Will you take all the pieces and lay them out on the table? I call that the “spreading it out” method.
Or, will you take the edges out and keep the rest in the box to sort through as you go? I call that the “keeping it contained” method. Whichever you choose, it’s going to be tons of fun!
Getting The Edges Out
The most common way to start a basic jigsaw puzzle is to go through all the pieces and set aside the edges. This makes it easy to build the frame of the puzzle, which gives you a great starting point.
Filling In The Puzzle
Once the frame is complete you can start on the inside of the puzzle.
The question is, to sort or not to sort!
Sorting By Color
Another option is to sort by color. You can do this from the beginning, or after the frame of the puzzle is built.
Sorting by color helps you pick out very obvious sections of the puzzle so you can complete smaller portions.
In the below puzzle, the first color I pulled out was the deep blue and white plate on the right. Even though most everything in this puzzle is blue, that plate really stood out.
Sorting By Objects
Some puzzles will have objects that stand out. In the puzzle below, I sorted the pieces for the amethyst geode in the top right corner first as those pieces were quite obvious among all of those in the box.
Sorting By Words
If the puzzle image has words on it, I find that’s the easiest way to sort the pieces. Once the words on the below puzzle were sorted, the rest was gravy!
The Non-Sorting Method
I am a “keep it contained” puzzler. I only select the pieces that stand out from the pack and lay them out on my puzzle trays.
When I am puzzling with my BFF and am working just the top of the puzzle, (she is upside down challenged!) I work from the top edge to the middle.
This method is more time consuming than sorting and doing sub-sections. That’s ok with me, I’m in no rush to finish.
The “You Do You” Method of Puzzling
This method is by far the best. It’s quite literally however you want to do it. You can mix and match sorting types, you can dig through the box (I love digging through the box!), or you can lay them all out and hunt and peck. You do you!
Benefits of Doing Jigsaw Puzzles
There are so many benefits to doing jigsaw puzzles. They’re great for keeping your brain sharp. I use them for concentration, manual dexterity, and hand-eye coordination. Must stave off the brain cloud!
In addition to those skills, they help teach pattern recognition, shape sorting, color recognition, problem solving, and even patience. Lord knows I could use the practice with that one!
Jen’s Personal Step By Step Puzzling Methods
Solo Puzzling
- Crack open the box – watch out for puzzle dust!
- Sort through all pieces and set aside the edges
- Complete the puzzle frame
- Sort out whatever stands out: colors/words etc
- Build sub-sections with the stand out pieces
- Place the sub-sections where they go inside the frame
- Fill in the rest
- Stand back and admire the puzzle!
Puzzling with the BFF
- Crack open the box – divide the pieces in half
- Sort through my half and set aside edge pieces
- Race against the BFF to complete the frame
- Sort out all the colors for the top half of the puzzle
- Build from the top down
- Try not to become annoyed when the BFF does sub-sections that cross into the top half of the puzzle
- Fill in everything the BFF hasn’t completed
- Stand back and admire the puzzle!
Fun With Finished Puzzles
What would you like to do with the finished puzzle? There are puzzles that are so much fun to do, that I save them to do again. Other puzzles are so colorful and beautiful I like to hang them up.
Here are some options for your finished puzzle:
- Put it back in the box to do again another day
- Get involved in a puzzle swap
- Donate it
- Frame or hang it up
Pets and Puzzles
If you have pets like me, you’ll want to store your puzzle pieces securely between sessions. Luckily this puzzle has been preserved with Puzzle Presto.
Read my article on how to preserve your jigsaw puzzle with Puzzle Presto.
What’s Next?
Click below to visit my puzzle reviews to help you get started on selecting your next puzzle!
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